The Wizard of Oz is probably (easily) the best known film from the 1930s today, even though Gone With the Wind was the massive blockbuster of the era. Many contributing factors. Oz is a family film. As Whoopi Goldberg said, it was a TV "event" for adults each year when they were growing up as kids. For younger generations today, the movie is a fantasy, not reliant on any specific time or era, so the movie doesn't feel anywhere near as dated as other films.
Gone With the Wind tells a Civil War story from the Confederate point of view. And even if Scarlett's tale of survival strikes a universal chord in people, it is set against a whitewashed, romantic interpretation of the Deep South that is not only unrealistic, it's offensive and distasteful to many people today, understandably so.
In simpler words, the movie just isn't aging well. Other films have told effective stories from the "enemy's" point of view, like All Quiet on the Western Front, one of the best anti-war films ever made, told from German perspective during World War I. It focuses on the high hopes and frenetic patriotism at the beginning without painting an idealistic viewpoint of pre-war Germany. All the young men enlist and go off to war, and very little is said in the film about the politics behind it.
Gone With the Wind begins with a Southern Utopian society, where happy slaves work for the kind plantation families and the biggest concern of the day is who is getting married to the wrong person.
I love the movie, and it's still one of my favorites, mostly because of how well it was made and for my nostalgia discovering it at such an early age. But the story's perspective makes me cringe at times, and more so with each passing year. It's not only a "civilization gone with the wind" as they say in the movie's prologue, this is a sentiment depicted on the screen that is also "gone with the wind" a little more each day.
To honor this movie, especially in a year with 12 Years a Slave as the frontrunner for Best Picture, would not just be somewhat uncomfortable, it would be a slap in the face to the progress and awareness made by filmmakers and storytellers in the last 75 years.
As for honoring The Wizard of Oz last night, the cynic in me says it has as much to do with Warner Bros. marketing as Samsung sponsoring the telecast while Ellen wanders around the audience with a Galaxy snapping selfies of the stars. Maybe there was a deal made or sponsorship dollars involved. Maybe it was a dream of the producers, or maybe it was both.
I'm happy about it. The Wizard of Oz is still my favorite film, but aside from my personal opinion, I don't think you could name another move from that era that is as widely known or loved. That's reason enough to note its anniversary to me.
Oh, and to answer your question about the 50th anniversary of the film in 1989, the Oscars did honor it, but they chose to do a mini-tribute to ALL of the classic movies released in 1939, which was (and often is still) cited as the "best" year in cinema history.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Updated On: 3/3/14 at 09:57 PM
